Balkan communist parties plan joint campaign

The fourth meeting of the Communist and Workers' parties of the Balkan 
countries was held in Sofia, Bulgaria on October 29.

The participating parties were: Communist Party of Bulgaria; Bulgarian 
Communist Party "Georgi Dimitrov"; New Communist Party of Yugoslavia; 
Communist Party of Greece; Communist Party of Romania.

The political situation in the Balkans was discussed and the parties 
stressed the need for unity in the communist movement in order to fight for 
peace and solidarity among workers, against the actions of international 
capital which promotes confrontation and fratricidal wars.

The meeting regarded the latest events in Yugoslavia as a new step in the 
brutal and undisguised intervention of the USA, the EU and NATO that has 
brought the country very close to a civil war.

Those were the forces responsible for the dirty war against Yugoslavia and 
the policy of further disintegration of Yugoslavia and for the revision of 
borders in the Balkans.

The meeting agreed that the goal of the "Stability Pact for Southeast 
Europe" and the increased presence of NATO forces in the area is to prevent 
peoples' decisions on their own ways of social and economic development and 
future.

In regards of Kosovo, participants in the meeting reiterated that it is an 
inseparable part of Serbia and Yugoslavia. They demanded that all foreign 
forces leave Kosovo immediately.

The recent elections in Kosovo can not be considered legal as only one 
national group took part in the elections organised by NATO.

The meeting condemned the closing down of the newspaper Evrensel of 
the Party of Labour (EMEP) Turkey; the continuing repression of Turkish and 
Kurdish progressive forces and the imprisonment of the Romanian trade 
unionist, Miron Kozma.

The meeting welcomed the struggles waged by workers in the Balkan countries 
in defence of their interests and expressed their solidarity with the 
Palestinian struggle.

The meeting decided to start an information and protest campaign against:

* the presence of NATO forces, military bases and nuclear weapons in the 
Balkans;

* implementation of the "Stability Pact for Southeast Europe", the 
militarisation of EU and its policy towards the Balkans;

* the expansion of NATO and the ascension of new countries into it; and

* the deployment of the US National Missile Defence System.

It was decided to promote joint actions against any initiatives coming from 
NATO and other imperialist forces in the area.

The meeting also examined the possibility of setting up "Anti-NATO Action 
Centres" in the Balkan countries.